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When WLIB first went on the air the station's target audience was upper middle-class and wealthy New Yorkers, as evidenced by its format of classical music and popular standards which competed with WQXR.[1] The station was purchased by New York Post publisher Dorothy Schiff in 1944 and regularly ran news updates from the Post's newsroom at various times during the day.[2]

In 1949 WLIB was purchased by the New Broadcasting Company. The firm was headed by former WNYC executive Morris S. Novik and his brother, garment executive Harry Novik. Upon taking control of the station the Novik brothers turned WLIB into a station which served ethnic audiences, with large amounts of programming targeting the city's Jewish and African American communities. The station eventually became the leading voice of New York's black residents, and established a presence in the community's epicenter with studios inside the Hotel Theresa in Harlem. During the mid-to-late 1950s its airstaff included pioneering black radio disc jockey Hal Jackson, actor William Marshall (of Blacula fame) and Victor Bozeman, who would later become a Los Angeles-based staff announcer for NBC television.[3]

In the 1960s WLIB was one of several commercial jazz stations in New York. Among its disc jockeys was Billy Taylor, whose shows were not only great listening but an education. According to him, "With the help Del Shields and Ed Williams [we] built the biggest jazz audience in New York." During much of this period WLIB's primary competition came from WWRL, another station which programmed to Black audiences.

WLIB became black-owned in the 1970s after activists picketed the station and demanded African Americans be given a chance to purchase it. Many felt the station’s series of white owners didn't care about broadcasting with community concerns in mind. Percy Sutton, Malcolm X’s former attorney and then-Manhattan borough president, formed the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC) with the backing of a group of black investors (including Hal Jackson and Billy Taylor, who was installed as WLIB's general manager), and purchased WLIB from the Novik brothers in 1972.[4][5] The station’s first talk shows featured Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, and Dr. Carlos Russell, a noted former college professor who taught some of the Black and Latino students who later founded the Young Lords Party.

The station's nighttime power was increased to 30,000 watts in the early 2000s, in a swap with WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which also broadcasts on 1190 AM. Prior to the power increase WLIB operated during daytime hours (sunrise to sunset) only, deferring at night to WOWO's 50,000-watt clear-channel signal. Inner City Broadcasting purchased the Fort Wayne station in 1994 for the sole purpose of lowering its power in order to increase WLIB's, setting the stage for WLIB to eventually begin broadcasting around the clock. After gaining Federal Communications Commission approval for 24-hour broadcasting, it would still be a few years before WLIB would actually begin nighttime programming. In the meantime Inner City sold WOWO, whose nighttime signal is now greatly reduced.

Since becoming black-owned the station has broadcast political, Afrocentric, and health-centered programming aimed at New York's Afro-Caribbean community. WLIB’s advocacy strength was credited with getting out the vote for David Dinkins in 1989 as he ran to become New York City’s first black mayor.[6]

In 2004, the station affiliated with Air America Radio due to a lack of advertiser support and ratings during its daytime hours. The switch was controversial, with many in the community seeing the switch as replacing black activist programming with Air America's primarily white, liberal on-air personalities.[7] Air America programming, which featured shows hosted by Al Franken, Randi Rhodes and Rachel Maddow, aired most of the day over WLIB with the exception of overnights, when the station returned to its urban talk roots with the Global Black Experience, hosted by Imhotep Gary Byrd. Starting in 2005, the apolitical Satellite Sisters aired instead of the Mike Malloy show on WLIB from 10 p.m. to midnight on weeknights.

Following Inner City Broadcasting's bankruptcy in 2012, WLIB and WBLS (and Inner City's other station properties) were acquired by YMF Media LLC, owned jointly by investor Ronald Burkle and basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson.[9] Over the next two years YMF sold off all of Inner City's stations; on February 11, 2014, Emmis Communications announced it its purchase of WLIB and WBLS for $131 million.[10] Emmis began operating the stations under a local marketing agreement until receiving final approval from the FCC, which came on June 10, 2014.